Pierre Haimard came to New France around 1690 and at first took service as a domestic, but he had much greater ambitions. He was already running a business in Quebec on Rue du Cul-de-Sac in Lower Town in 1695.

On 10 Nov. 1707 the governor and the intendant granted him the Paspébiac seigneury on Baie des Chaleurs, with the right of haute, moyenne et basse justice. In 1719 Haimard bought the Mont-Louis seigneury, situated in the lower reaches of the St Lawrence; it had been part of the estate of Nicolas Bourlet, of Paris, although Haimard had been in possession of it for several years. In 1721, as a seigneur, Haimard required “all those who held documents giving title to land grants to present them to him within a month, to settle and be in residence on their land, otherwise it would be rejoined to the seigneurial domain.”

In addition to his business in Quebec, Pierre Haimard engaged in the fishing trade, particularly on his Mont-Louis seigneury. He set up a drying-ground for cod there and employed Jean Flibot, Étienne Rondeau, André Demay, and Pierre Pruneau to look after his trade in cod. He had ordinances issued forbidding “the inhabitants of Quebec and the surrounding districts who go to fish at Mont-Louis to sell any spirits or other intoxicating liquor to his employees, on pain of losing their own catch.” He also owned establishments on the Îles de la Madeleine “for the killing of seals and walrus.” On one occasion he even had seized “the oil and barbels of a whale” which had been stolen from him.

Being a very active man with a well developed business sense, Pierre Haimard took part in the fitting out of a king’s frigate in Acadia, in collaboration with some other people from Quebec. He added to his income by collecting accounts, in his capacity as attorney, for a number of merchants in France.

He was a man of sound judgement, and his personal services were often called upon: as guardian (for Louis Jolliet*’s children, in 1700), surrogate guardian, procurator, executor, and so on. It was especially as syndic for the creditors of the two large estates of Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye and Jean Gobin, the director of the Compagnie du Nord, that Pierre Haimard had to call all his powers into play. His role was not an easy one, for all Aubert’s assets were in the form of landed property and there was very little ready money. For that reason this estate was not finally settled until 12 years after Pierre Haimard’s death.

Pierre Haimard died at Quebec and was buried in the cathedral on 12 Sept. 1724, where on 1 Sept. 1698 he had married Louise Guillot Gabriel Gosselin’s widow. She had two children whom her husband adopted; he even made Louis Gosselin a donee inter vivos; this donation was the cause of a lawsuit of which all the ins and outs are to be found in the records of the Conseil Supérieur. It was not until 10 April 1753, nearly 30 years after his death, that Pierre Haimard’s estate was finally wound up.

From the documents at our disposal it is clear that Pierre Haimard was a man of character and a firm will. A mere domestic in 1690, he became a merchant in 1695, judge of the provost court for the Notre-Dame-des-Anges seigneury in 1704, deputy attorney general at the Conseil Supérieur from November 1706 to July 1710, and finally seigneur of Paspébiac in 1707 and of Mont-Louis in 1719.

We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Nous reconnaissons l’appui du gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du ministère du Patrimoine canadien.